Dr. Tim Soutphommasane
Human Rights Advocate, Expert on Diversity & Culture, & Political Thinker
Profile
Professor Tim Soutphommasane was recently appointed Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Oxford. He is a human rights advocate, expert on diversity and culture, and political thinker. He was previously Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner.
Tim’s work on diversity, race and patriotism has shaped debates in Australia and Britain, and guided organisations in cultural change. His work and commentary has been reported in global media outlets including the New York Times, BBC, Financial Times, The Guardian and CNN.
Previous Experience:
From 2013 to 2018 Tim was Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, where he led the National Anti-Racism Strategy. He has been a prominent voice in debates about free speech and racism, leading the successful defence of federal racial discrimination laws against repeal and amendment.
Within Australia he has pioneered efforts to boost cultural diversity and inclusion within organisations, producing the two landmark Leading for Change reports measuring the representation of cultural diversity in Australian senior leadership. He was founding chair of the Leadership Council on Cultural Diversity and founding co-director of the Dr John Yu Fellowship in cultural diversity and leadership.
Tim has led organisational change at the University of Sydney, where he directed the University’s Culture Strategy, developing various leadership programs for academic and professional staff. He has also worked in politics as a speechwriter and media adviser and has been an opinion columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Australian. He is a former board director of the National Australia Day Council and Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.
A graduate of the University of Oxford and the University of Sydney, Tim has been. He is the author of five books, including On Hate (2019) and the award-winning Don’t Go Back To Where You Came From (2012).
Media
Feedback
Tim Soutphommasane was a standout speaker at TEDxSydney 2012. His originality of thinking and his vision for our 21st century world, all very complex processes and ideas, were presented with great ease and passion that touched the heart of the TEDxSydney audience.
Tim Soutphommasane has made an impressive contribution to our national day. He brought his powerful intellect to several private presentations and then provided live commentary on the national broadcaster for Australia Day 2012. Ever theoretically grounded, but able to talk to the general public, Tim communicates his progressive patriotism with deep thought, passion and clarity.
Tim Soutphommasane is an original thinker and presenter. He is wise beyond his years and deeply considers and analyses issues before passing judgment. He was an outstanding presenter at the 2010 Deakin Lecture series in Melbourne, sharing his refreshing and insightful take on how the country might better rise to the challenge of tackling climate change. It is a pleasure to recommend Tim for any event suited to being enhanced by his exceptional abilities.
Your keynote presentation at the Social Education and VCE Teachers' conference was thought-provoking and provided teachers an opportunity to reflect upon our current democratic principles. We were delighted to have such a challenging keynote to open the conference.
On behalf of all at the Asia Education Foundation I would like to thank you for your contribution to the 2013 AEF National Conference. Our feedback and evaluation has indicated that the Conference was overwhelmingly a great success - with 85 percent of participant responses rating their sessions as either valuable or highly valuable. Some of the personalised feedback regarding your session included...
'A thought provoking presentation delivered very sensitively - gave some new perspectives to reflect on.'
'Absolutely loved Dr Tim's talk. He has inspired me further to reclaim patriotism in an affirming way with my students.'
'A compelling and enriching experience.'
'Great speaker!'
'Great to revisit the meaning of citizenship in Australia and with eyes to the Asian century.'
I'd like to extend my deepest gratitude to you for giving so generously of your time and expertise to contribute to the conference. Time and again, it was the extraordinary calibre of the presenters that delegates found most valuable and we certainly couldn't have done it without you.
